Teaching Mind and Body

In this 2nd part of my interview with Dave Eggar, we concentrate on the philosophical and ideological side of performance. WE discuss how perfectionism and being competitive takes us away from the real goals and joys of music making. He talks about how we can move away from perfectionism and  get back to the joys of music making by creating mutiple goals for our performances. We talk about  the contextual nature of technique for various genres of music and how we should strive for effectiveness rather than perfection.  We also talk about the importance of gratitude and self compassion in our musical development.  We talk about the impact of what teachers tell us, and he shares a personal story that impacted his confidence for many years. This conversation happened in June of 2025. I am grateful for the oportunity to have another inspirational conversation with Dave, I hope you will enjoy it too.  

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To kick off season 2,  I am interviewing 7 time grammy award nominated cellist Dave Eggar. He has been heard by millions people around the world, in recordings and on stage, on Good Morning America, and even at the pre-game show in the superbowl. He is the musician behind the cello playing in the iconic song "Viva La Vida" by the band Cold Play. He is also a significant musical figure, not only in the classical arena, but also in pop, rock, hip hop and beyond. This interview was originally conducted in June of 2025. In part 1 of the interview, we talk about the Mostly Modern Music Festival, his formative years, his education including his time during childhood where he spent some time with legendary composer Aaron Copland. We talk candidly about his education and time at Juilliard and Harvard, and his willingness to explore all types of music as a vehicle for a greater variety of storytelling. He is one of the nicest and most down to earth musicians in the industry. Over the years he has been a source of inspiration, positive influence, great opportunities and wisdom for me and countless others. My hope is that you will all be as inspired by him as I am. 

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This is part 2 of my interview with conductor Kenneth Woods.  if you haven’t listened to part one you might want to go back and listen to it first. Partly because this part starts rather abruptly and it is  continuing things from the previous part. In this part we talk about how playing electric guitar and for me playing electric bass was beneficial to both of our growth as musicians. We address the concept of groove, and how we can bring it to the classical world. We talk about the benefits of just playing for fun. How a health problem created an epiphany and a profound  understanding of rhythm . We briefly address Social and moral obligations as musicians and being true to history. We end talking about score study, building rhythmic vocabulary as well Ken's thoughts on musical interpretation and tempo relationships. 

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Our guest today is highly respected conductor, composer, and cellist Kenneth Woods. Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “a symphonic conductor of stature”, American conductor Kenneth Woods was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra in 2013,  and has quickly built up an acclaimed body of work with them.He has recorded with the BBC National orchestra of Wales, the BBC Scottish symphony, He was principal guest conductor of the Orchestra of The Swan and He has conducted the National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra and State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra, and has made numerous broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation He is also the  artistic director of the Colorado Mahlerfest. His Conducting mentors include Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman.

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Marieke DeBruijn is a Dutch violinist and is the leader and founder of the Dutch String Collective, an active performing organization that does concert series and theater type productions. In this interview, We got a chance to talk about culture, language, technique, her practice regimen and preferred technique exercises, the ups and downs of performing in some of the top orchestras of Northern Europe including the Amsterdamn Concertgebouw, as well as her journey to finding her own career path, and her perspective as a woman in a male dominated field. 

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In part 2 we talk about more people in Jesus's life who helped shape his career, including his friendships with legendary violinists like Jean luc Ponty, Mark O’Connor, and the great jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. we touch upon his practice routine, and some of his innovative ideas on teaching violin. We also talk about The sharing of culture without the appropriation He talks about the inspirational story of his recovery from what many doctors considered to be an inoperable brain tumor and the new lease on life he got after his recovery. I am grateful for my friendship with Jesus and also that I can share this informative conversation we had. I hope you enjoy it and are inpspired as much as I was from it. 

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Happy 2026! In this episode I interview Grammy award winning and Latin Grammy nominated Venezualan violinist, Jesus Florido. We talk about his formative years, his training in the legendary  musical education program "El Sistema" of which he was a foundinging member and we also discuss his legendary teachers Margaret Pardee, Dorothy Delay, Larry Shapiro, and Joeseph Gingold and he shares  their insights. Since the interview was over 2 hours long i have split it into 2 parts. This is part 1. 

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In this episode, we welcome back April Choi to talk about the skill of tightrope/ and slack line. She holds a Guinness book of world’s records for the most whip cracks while standing on a slack line. I found myself comparing violin playing metaphorically to walking a tightrope, but then realizing that understanding the issues of physics and balance involved in that might be very beneficial for string playing,   Turns out, there are a surprising number of things we can learn from this skill that relate to string playing. From balancing and counter balancing to issues regarding the physics of string tension and how one compensates for that. Her background in engineering as well as string playing makes her uniquely qualified to talk about that. I discuss the take aways that apply directly to string playing after the interview. 

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In this episode I interview Dr. Jan Svennevig who is a professor of linguistics and a prolific researcher and publisher of numerous papers and articles on various aspects of communication. He has taught at the university of Oslo and  his current post is the University of Agder.  He has also been a guest lecturer at Stanford University. We talk about the nuances of communication, the cues that others give us as to their comprehension and receipt of information, as well as cultural aspects of language. We also discuss some of the research that has come out of his linguistics lab over the years. I believe that analyzing language in this way is not only helpful in communication but also because music follows similar language elements and structures, it helps us to  understand musical phrasingl, flow and emphasis. 

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In this episode, we talk to Nasa aerospace engineer, world famous Whip artist and mutliple Guiness world record holder April Choi. We discuss her motivations, her career, her learning methods, and her feelings about being a performer as well as her records. It's a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an extraordinary human being, who I am fortunate to also consider my friend. 

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